The Ekiti State Chapter of the
National Council of Muslim Youth Organisations (NACOMYO) has accused Governor
Ayo Fayose of elevating Christianity as the state’s religion.

This came in reaction to his
decision to sew Christmas clothes for 20,000 children.

The Muslim youths described the
act as “unacceptable and a breach of Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution (as
amended).”

The section provides that “the
Government of the Federation or of a state shall not adopt any religion as
state religion.”

They suggested that the governor,
rather than spending millions to purchase and sew Christmas clothes for the
children should pay salary arrears owed their parents who are saddled with the
responsibility of providing for their children.

In a statement on Monday, the
NACOMYO State Coordinator, Tajudeen Ahmed, said in as much as the group was not
averse to any form of child welfare or development, it was worried that “our
commonwealth as a state is being used to promote a particular religion and to
placate the subscribers of the religion.”

The group argued that as
Christians look forward to Christmas and New Year, Muslims also look forward to
festivals like id-el-maulud orid-el-fitri hence “as the governor of all, he is
expected to patronize both Christians and Muslims in equal measure.”

NACOMYO said: “It is on the basis
of the above that we hereby call on Governor Fayose to suspend his planned
celebration of Christians and Christianity during the forthcoming Yuletide
period.

“In the alternative, if the
governor is determined to go ahead with his planned provision of Christmas
dresses, he should disclose the budget for the dresses to the public and be
ready to expend the same amount during the forthcoming Muslim festival. This is
the justice of the matter.

“While maintaining that the
resources of our commonwealth should not

be made for the patronage of only
a section or religion, we posit that the duty of providing dresses for children
is fundamentally that of parents and not government.”

“Ekiti State government should be
more concerned about fulfilling her duty under the law, which includes that of
prompt and adequate payment of staff salaries. In this way, parents will be
able to make adequate care and provision for their children.”

But Fayose insisted that the
project was conceived by his administration to give Ekiti children between the
ages of one and ten years a sense of belonging and cater to the needs of the
less privileged kids.

Assorted local fabrics of Ankara,
Guinea and Kampala among others had been purchased by the governor and made
available to the local tailors for the exercise.

Fayose said that every tier of
government must endeavour to concretely cater for the needs of children,
especially children of the less privileged.

Speaking at the official flag off
of the distribution of the Yuletide clothes to the beneficiaries Sunday evening
at the Government House, Fayose also urged the kids to urge their parents to
support his anointed candidate for the 2018 governorship poll, Deputy Governor
Kolapo Olusola.

Fayose said: “As a government, we
must be seen to be caring, not by mere saying it but by practice. Part of our
duty is to give our kids a sense of belonging.

“We are bound to provide some
happiness for them at a yuletide such as this. We are providing Christmas
clothing for over 20,000 of our kids. We will raise it to 100,000 by next year
as I am very sure the next governor will come from my party PDP.”

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You are right. But you should have reminded ya northern brothers in governments of their states to also make provision for the minority Christians any time they send people on pilgrimage. every year most northern governors send muslims on pilgrimage to Saudi without sending Christians to Jerusalem.